Saturday, June 25, 2011

Yellowstone National Park: Mammoth to Lamar Valley

We finally made it to one of our prime destinations: Yellowstone National Park.  We spent the night before in Gardiner, a cute little town just a mile outside the north entrance of Yellowstone.  We spent our first day exploring the north end from west (Mammoth Hot Springs) to east (Lamar Valley).

We were in AWE. The size of the park, the landscape and wildlife were truly a sight to be seen. YELLOWSTONE IS A MUST SEE.  We already want to come back and we haven't left yet.   
JACK: "There were bison e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e......and a squirrel."

HARPER: "Being SO CLOSE!  I was only 10 feet away from a bison which was right behind our car!"

JEFF: "I can't articulate into words the sheer beauty of the park."
North Entrance

The world's first national park 1872




Pronghorns

Mule deer

Mule deer




This big boy bison was right next to our car.



Scratching an itch?

Pronghorns


Lamar Valley: we were hoping to see a wolf at dusk but instead we saw plenty of....


bison!


We caught a few casually heading off to their deluxe accomodations for bed.  We all laughed pretty hard.






Harper loved the soft and fuzzy antlers on this beauty of a Mule deer.




Mammoth Hot Springs

Heading up to the top of the Mammoth Hot Springs




The kids thought this looked like roasted marshmallows.

We thought this looked like Superman's home on Krypton


View from the top of Mammoth at dusk.  We were the only one's up there at the time...


Finally.....the top!

Jack happily heading down from the top

Liberty Cap: dormant hot spring cone

5 comments:

Brian said...

Those are ELK!!! NONE of those are mule deer!vDidn't you get a wildlife identification card???

Brian said...

Looks like you are having a blast!

Jeff or Lori said...

Yo Bro! I went off our Yellowstone "A Guide to the Park and It's Wildlife"...they have white bottoms, no?

Unknown said...

Looks like you are off to a great start!!!! Amazing part of the country! Enjoy every bit of it. Can't wait to see more!
-Katharine :)

Brian said...

True they have white bottoms. Just about 1/3 the size and no dark brown necks. Also, those pronghorns on the rock ledge were Big Horn Sheep. So now the kids can check those off the list. b